For about a week I've been saving cream. Each day after milking the goats, I poured the milk into a casserole dish and put it in the refrigerator,
leaving it undisturbed for 24 hours so the cream would rise to the top. In this picture, you can see how the cream is separated around the edges.
Then I skimmed the cream off with a spoon
and stored it in a pint jar. I did this each day until my jar was full. If I had a cream separator, I wouldn't have to go through these steps and would be able to get more cream out of the milk. Supposedly, the milk is still just as good after the cream is skimmed off because there is enough cream left in it to not make a difference in the taste. I poured the leftover milk out, but could have kept it and used it if I had chosen to.
About an hour before I was ready to start the butter making process, I put a mixing bowl, the beaters, and two cups of water into the freezer to cool.
Then I set the cream out on the counter with a thermometer in it and waited for the cream to reach 52 degrees.
When the cream reached 52 degrees, I poured it into my cold mixing bowl and whipped it at high speed until it was stiff and beyond.
The cream formed "grains" surrounded by the milky liquid (buttermilk).
As soon as the "grains" started to clump together, I poured the buttermilk off and into a jar. Supposedly, this buttermilk can be used in other recipes calling for buttermilk. Next, I poured in the same amount of water as the buttermilk I poured off and mixed the butter at low speed. This is a "rinse" which I did three times, the last time with ice water.
After the rinse, the liquid has to be squeezed out of the butter by mashing it against the sides of the mixing bowl again and again, pouring off the water as you go. I like my butter a little salty, so I added some salt during this the squeezing stage.
And that was all! It was quick and easy.
Yum. I can't wait for breakfast time so I can have it on my waffles.
I followed instructions for making goat butter without a cream separator on Mother Earth News on-line. For more detailed instructions, click on the link below:
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3 comments:
Wow! I'm impressed. I can't wait to taste it!
You're gonna think I'm crazy, but there are souls that swear by it... instead of throwing your milk out... pour it around the trunks of fruit or nut trees. They say it kicks the tree into a gorgeous stealth of beauty!
Hey, thanks for the tip, Weldrbrat! I will definitely try it. It can't hurt. The Earth Mother site said feed it to the livestock. I thought about doing that, but was too lazy to find a dish to put it in.
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